INDICATORS

ECHIM was also the scientific secretariat for Working Party Indicators. Working Party
Indicators comprised a large number of experts from the ECHIM Core Group, Member
State contact persons, all Working Party and Task Force leaders, Public Health Programme
(PHP) project leaders from nine health indicator relevant projects, Candidate Countries
and EEA/EFTA countries, representatives from DG SANCO, Eurostat, the OECD, the
WHO Regional Office for Europe and some other international organisations.
The following projects were coordinated by Working Party Indicators:
• EUPHIX (European Public Health Information, Knowledge and Data
Management System). Set up to create a system for the distribution and analysis
of data and the dissemination of knowledge.
• ISARE 3 (Health Indicators in Europe’s regions, phase 3). Described and
characterised useful indicators available on the regional level.
• EUROTHINE (Tackling Health Inequalities in Europe: an integrated approach).
Gathered information on health inequalities, assessed the evidence on the
effectiveness of policies and interventions and made recommendations.
• EHEMU (European Health Expectancy Monitoring Unit). Calculated and
presented data based on health expectancies.
• EUHSID (European Union Health Surveys Information Database). Provided
data on HIS and HES in Europe.
• ECHIM (European Community Health Indicators and Monitoring).
• FEHES (Feasibility of a European Health Examination Survey). Prepared
recommendations for health examinations in Europe.
• EURO-URHIS (Urban Health Indicators Project). Collected information and
made proposals on Indicators for Urban Health.
• HCQI (Health Care Quality Indicators Project). Examined indicators applicable
for assessing quality of health care.
These projects supported Working Party Indicators and ECHIM in many respects.
First, some of them proposed and tested specific indicators, and disseminated the
information. Second, some gathered and tested indicators suitable for use at regional
level, for describing urban health, and for looking at health inequalities. Third, some
produced data for use by the whole health information system. Fourth, some were a
rich source of survey methods and made recommendations for a European Health
Examination Survey.
ECHIM’s strategy entailed keeping close contact with these projects, all of which
were oriented towards the needs of the European Health Information and Knowledge
System. The task of Working Party Indicators and ECHIM was to balance the mix of
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